Edinburgh Decorative & Fine Arts Society - EDFAS

When Patricia Fay founded NADFAS in 1968 she was determined that Societies should not only encourage the enjoyment of the decorative and fine arts through a programme of lectures and study days but also actively contribute to the preservation of our heritage.

For over thirty years teams of Edinburgh Heritage Volunteers have worked on a variety of conservation and archival projects in and around the city. The historic houses, museums, galleries, libraries and other organisations which have welcomed our members and much appreciated our contribution include Dalmeny House, Hopetoun House, Museum of Childhood, Lauriston Castle, Advocates Library, Royal College of Physicians Library, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery of Scotland, National Museums of Scotland, Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, Newliston House, Archers Hall, National Trust for Scotland, City of Edinburgh Museum, Royal College of Surgeons Library, Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh Library.

Current projects include:

1 - National Museums of Scotland - Jean Muir Archive

Our latest textile project began in June 2009. Every three weeks or so, four members from a team of eight spend a day at the Museums' Granton Store with the Curator of Dress and Textiles, Fiona Anderson, and members of the NMS Conservation Department assisting with the accessioning and storage of the thousands of items in the Jean Muir Archive now in the collection of National Museums of Scotland.

Garments, accessories and works on paper including designs and line-ups for seasonal collections are sorted, photographed, and carefully housed in state of the art storage areas. Padded hangers and garment bags are constructed in conservation grade material.

Two further volunteers are engaged on another project at the National Museums of Scotland, working with the Department of World Cultures on writing descriptions, recording numbers and upgrading storage of their large collection of Japanese netsuke.

2 - Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh Library - Book Cleaning and Conservation

From a team of sixteen volunteers, a rota of four comes once a week to the Library of the Royal Botanic Garden in Inverleith Row. Work began in 2008 and the cleaning and conservation of the 80,000 volumes, following training by the National Library of Scotland, is expected to take several years.

3 - Edinburgh City Archives - Cleaning, Documentation and Storage of Historic Plans

Two Edinburgh Heritage Volunteers have joined several members of Stirling DFAS in their work at Edinburgh City Archives in the City Chambers. Once a month they clean, catalogue and store in archival quality envelopes fascinating historic plans and architectural drawings, extending their life and allowing them to be easily retrieved for future use.

4 - Edinburgh College of Art - Cleaning Classical and Renaissance Cast Collection

A number of EDFAS members have volunteered to help with a major project to clean conserve and redisplay the magnificent collection of sculptural casts belonging to Edinburgh College of Art. Training is under way to assist conservators who have now set up a workshop in the Sculpture Court at Lauriston Place.

5 - National Gallery of Scotland - Archive Documentation

A team of up to four volunteers come to the Print Room of the National Gallery of Scotland each Thursday morning. They identify, dry mount and label often quite rare images of works of art which are then stored in box files under artists' names and used by the curators and visiting academics for research purposes.

6 - RCAHMS - Image Documentation

One volunteer is currently working at the Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historic Monuments of Scotland identifying images of buildings, some of which have long gone but which are recorded by artists at the time, and putting them onto the Oracle database, a reference tool of great value to members of staff and to the public at large.